Business of the House
Debate between Luke Evans and Lucy Powell(3 weeks ago)
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Lucy Powell
My hon. Friend is absolutely right to raise what I know will be a big issue in her constituency, as it is in my own. The plight of leaseholders over recent years—soaring service charges and many living in unsellable, unsafe homes—is shocking and unacceptable. That is why this Government will enact the previous Government’s Act at pace and finally bring an end to the feudal leasehold system with our forthcoming Bill.
Dr Luke Evans (Hinckley and Bosworth) (Con)
Farmers woke up today broken and devastated after yesterday’s announcement by the Government. We only have to look across social media to see farmers speaking about the impact of the hike in tax on generational farming. Farmers are among those who suffer most from mental health problems, given the problems of a tough harvest. This concoction has come together under this Government. Will the Leader of the House ask the Environment Secretary to make a statement on Monday? Will she write to the Health Secretary to ensure a ringfenced fund for all those farmers who will suffer and will be unable to pass on their family farm to the next generation? The impact on food security will be severe and shocking.
Lucy Powell
As I said, this Government are incredibly committed to our farming and rural communities, to ensure food security. We have had to make some difficult decisions in this Budget, but I gently say to the hon. Gentleman that he should be careful in scaremongering about the reality of what is happening. As I said, three quarters of those currently entitled to the full relief will still be entitled to it following the measures in the Budget. He might reflect on one reason why so many rural constituencies chose Labour MPs at the last election: the president of the National Farmers’ Union described decisions by the previous Conservative Government as “morally bankrupt”.
Business of the House
Debate between Luke Evans and Lucy Powell(1 month ago)
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Lucy Powell
My hon. Friend raises an important issue. I am sure that his question will help bring attention to the importance of people getting their dogs vaccinated; I was unaware of the virus. I am sure that it would make a good topic for an Adjournment debate, and he has rightly raised it on the Floor of the House.
Dr Luke Evans (Hinckley and Bosworth) (Con)
Cafés are so important to rural communities in Hinckley and Bosworth and North West Leicestershire. I ran a favourite café competition, and a thousand constituents nominated cafés. In joint third place were JAFFLES@No3 and What the Fork; in second place was Liberteas; and the winner was Epicurean Lounge. Will the Leader of the House congratulate that café, and café owners up and down this country, because they are so important in our society?
Lucy Powell
I think the hon. Gentleman said that one of the winners was What the Fork. What a forking good idea his competition was. I congratulate the winners, and all his constituents on taking part. I look forward to a bacon butty, a cup of tea, and maybe a piece of cake in Hinckley and Bosworth at some point in the future.
Business of the House
Debate between Luke Evans and Lucy Powell(1 month, 1 week ago)
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Lucy Powell
My hon. Friend makes an important point that has been raised in this House previously. Frankly, the situation is just not good enough, especially for people in rural communities like hers, who rely so heavily on being able to drive. She may be aware that there is a Westminster Hall debate next week on the availability of driving tests; that might be a good opportunity to raise some of these issues. I will, of course, ensure that the Minister has heard her question.
Dr Luke Evans (Hinckley and Bosworth) (Con)
Can we have a debate on the hospital review programme? The Leicestershire and Rutland hospitals are now in its scope. We were due to have two hospitals, a midwifery unit and a car park. The proposals were in phase 3, and work had already begun on the plans. I have set up a petition, which is also being shared by fellow Leicester and Leicestershire MPs, to make sure the issue gets the recognition that it needs. I urge everyone in Leicestershire and Rutland to sign the petition. Can we have a debate in Government time on the review, to make sure that the hospitals serving over 1 million people in Leicestershire get the funding that they need?
Lucy Powell
The new hospital building programme is of great interest to many Members on both sides of the House. However, when we came into government, we found that the programme was a complete work of fiction. Money had not been allocated for many of the promises that had been made. We are undertaking a full and comprehensive review of the new hospital programme to make a realistic and costed proposal for all the new hospitals that this country so desperately needs.
Business of the House
Debate between Luke Evans and Lucy Powell(2 months, 1 week ago)
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Lucy Powell
NICE’s agreement to the use of drugs on the NHS is a very topical issue that comes up in the Chamber, including at business questions, many times over. My hon. Friend might want to raise this issue at Health questions after we return from recess, but I will certainly ensure that the relevant Minister has heard her call today.
Dr Luke Evans (Hinckley and Bosworth) (Con)
I would be grateful for some help and advice from the Leader of the House. When the winter fuel announcement was made, I wrote to the Treasury and was told three times no, it was a Department for Work and Pensions issue. Following that logic, when it came to VAT on school fees, I wrote to the Department for Education, and much to my surprise it told me that assessing its impact was a Treasury issue. I am therefore stuck on a merry-go-round of trying to find out how this policy, which is due to be introduced in January, will impact on my constituents. Will she advise me on how I can do that, and would she be kind enough to ask the Education Secretary to meet me to discuss the impact on my constituents of VAT going on private school fees?
Lucy Powell
I am sure the Education Secretary would be happy to answer the hon. Member’s questions on that. It a clear policy of this Government. We want to ensure that the 93% of children who attend state schools get access to the high-quality education and expert teachers they desperately need, and that is why we are imposing VAT on private school fees. Our analysis suggests that many schools and parents will be able to absorb that cost. Unfortunately, that is the situation as it is.
Business of the House
Debate between Luke Evans and Lucy Powell(2 months, 2 weeks ago)
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Lucy Powell
I could not have put it better. I am sure that many others will want to make such points as the anniversary comes about in the coming couple of weeks, because it is really important that we learn the lessons from that disaster and do not allow history to repeat itself. What happens when the Government of the day make a huge amount of unfunded spending and tax-cutting commitments with no idea of where the money will come from, and ignore the advice of Treasury and other experts, completely flying in the face of our much-valued financial institutions? As my hon. Friend recalled, we see soaring rates of Government borrowing costs and interest rates having to be raised very quickly. It is mortgage payers, ordinary families and those on fixed incomes who pay the heaviest price when the Government of the day make such a reckless choice with the economy.
Dr Luke Evans (Hinckley and Bosworth) (Con)
In Leicestershire, we have fantastic optometrists and opticians. Will the Leader of the House ask the Prime Minister whether it is just glasses that they need to give to get a full-access pass to No. 10, or do they need to give suits as well?
Lucy Powell
This is a Government of service, and we are working hard to turn the page on an era of scandal and sleaze under the previous Government. We expect the very highest standards of all those in government, which is why we quickly brought in measures such as raising standards and expectations for MPs, raising standards and expectations for Ministers, being completely transparent about declarations, and ensuring that all the proper processes for appointments are followed at all times. We will continue to do that.
Budget Resolutions and Economic Situation
Debate between Luke Evans and Lucy Powell(1 year, 8 months ago)
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Lucy Powell (Manchester Central) (Lab/Co-op)
It is a pleasure to open the debate on science and technology, as one of the few Members in this place probably with a science degree. You might be aware, Madam Deputy Speaker, that I studied chemistry at Somerville, like another well-known female politician very popular on the Government Benches. I hope that is where the similarities end, although we both have a reputation for, how shall I put it, getting our own way.
Science, technology and innovation are close to my heart. I welcome the new focus—not before time—on these issues, which I will come to. Even with the new Department and a few mentions in the Budget, we are still miles behind where we need to be in exploiting the potential of the UK as a science and tech superpower.
First, let me address the Budget overall. Having had a few days to digest and analyse, the verdict on the Budget is in. It is not a
“sustainable plan for long-term economic expansion”.
Those are not my words but those of The Daily Telegraph. The Federation of Small Businesses was no more complimentary, saying that its members would feel “short-changed” by the “meagre” Budget. The Institute for Fiscal Studies labelled Britain a high-tax economy, with households feeling “continuing pain”.
The public view is that it is a Budget not for them, but for a tiny few—a growing theme after 13 years in office. No wonder most now trust Labour over the Conservatives when it comes to the economy. That is the verdict, because this is a Budget divorced from most people’s reality—or as we have just heard, from anybody’s reality. There was no mention in the Chancellor’s speech that this Parliament is set to see the biggest fall in living standards ever recorded—the biggest fall by a country mile, according to the Resolution Foundation. That means families worse off and prices going through the roof, as wages fall through the floor.
New research for the BBC, out today, shows that the average British worker is now £11,000 a year worse off than they should be, after 13 years of a Conservative Government. That is the reality for most people. The reason for that cannot be passed off as global forces, as it is relative too—middle-income Britons are now 10% worse off than the French and 20% worse off than their German equivalents. When holidaying Brits return to the continent in force this summer, they will feel like the poor man of Europe once again. That is the record of this Government; no wonder they hardly mentioned it.
It was a Budget divorced from the realities of most businesses, too. Nothing for them on their unaffordable, rising costs; nothing on business rate reform; and very little to boost their immediate workforce challenges either. Small businesses were offered thin gruel. Perhaps that was what the former Prime Minister meant when he said something quite unparliamentary about business.
It was a Budget utterly divorced from the realities facing our public services too, with hardly even a mention of the NHS or care. Yet we have 7 million patients stuck on waiting lists, A&E waiting times at an all-time high, social care in crisis, putting extra pressure our hospitals, and a chronic workforce emergency.
Dr Luke Evans
Does the hon. Lady welcome the statement by the British Medical Association about the changes to pensions, which will get senior doctors back to work? The chair of the BMA pensions committee said in the media that the changes had the immediate effect of getting people back to work, which means the NHS workforce will be strengthened.
Lucy Powell
I will come on to say something about that, but as my husband is an A&E consultant I am all too familiar with these issues. As the IFS said, it was a golden
“sledgehammer to crack a very small nut”.
The realities facing our public services are not addressed in this Budget.
It is another Tory Budget so divorced from reality that it exposes, once again, who the party in government is really for—tax cuts for the wealthiest, tax hikes for the rest. The last Tory Budget had a cut to the 45p top rate of tax; this Budget has a pension tax cut for the top 1%. Government Members might groan and wail, but that is the reality.
Wealth managers already see the Budget as a bonanza, and not only a huge tax break for the super-wealthy but an inheritance tax wheeze for the super-rich too, with one wealth adviser describing it as
“a great opportunity for tax-free growth.”
Lucy Powell
I will not apologise for those figures, and in the next part of my speech I will explain that the figures are perhaps worse than previously thought. There are issues for doctors, but only 16% of those who will benefit from this massive boon are doctors, and that is before all the speculators dive into this new wheeze. That is the political choice that this Chancellor and this Government have made—trickle-down economics, and tax perks for the tiny few. That is the record that they just will not be able to dodge.
Lucy Powell
I will not give way again. Government Members have plenty of time to give speeches.
It is a Budget divorced from the reality of who caused this economic crisis. It was the Conservative party that crashed the economy, sending markets into freefall and interest rates sky high, resulting in a Tory mortgage penalty for millions of homeowners. The Government want to blame others, but their record is falling living standards, a stagnant economy, falling house prices and the worst growth forecast in the G7—all stats the Chancellor failed to mention.